Editor,

I was so shocked with the Examiner today as I turned to the editorial cartoon. There were so many ways to have commented on the tragedy in Orlando without resorting to Islamophobia. This thinly veiled racism does not reflect the nature of Coupeville or Whidbey Island as a whole. As a member of the Greening Congregations Collaborative of Whidbey Island, I have contact with other congregations at least once a month and sometimes weekly. This level of intolerance is unacceptable to most, if not all, mainline denominations.

As great as my distaste for this divisive rhetoric is, this cartoon hides two inconvenient truths. The first is the cause of this horrible event, homophobia. This was a reaction to two men kissing. The hate crime was precipitated by an act of love.

Mass murder was the result. The largest mass killing of LGBT people in the Western world since the Holocaust. One person’s loathing and mental instability caused the deaths of 50 people. In 2014, the FBI reported that 20.8 percent of hate crimes reported to police in 2013 were founded on perceived sexual orientation. This was not a religious crime by a Muslim, this was a hate crime committed by a bigot.

Secondly, this cartoon covers up the easy availability of assault weapons and ammunition. I seriously doubt Mateen could have killed as many people with a musket. The inability of our lawmakers to address this cancer in our society is inexcusable.

I am ashamed of our local paper for taking the low road in this national tragedy.

Brian Reid

Coupeville